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Eoin Morgan claims former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor is a big threat to England

Eoin Morgan says the returning Ross Taylor could pose a major threat to England during their tour of New Zealand.

Last Updated: 07/02/13 8:21am

Ross Taylor: Returning for New Zealand

Taylor, 28, missed the Blackcaps' recent tour of South Africa after losing the captaincy in controversial circumstances during the previous tour of Sri Lanka.

But the destructive batsman is now back in the squad under the captaincy of Brendan McCullum for the three Twenty20s - the first of which is on Saturday - and the trio of one-day internationals that follow and Morgan is wary of the potential damage he could do to England's hopes of success.

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"He is a big danger, a very successful one-day and Twenty20 cricketer and someone we look to as a possible threat in this series," said the 26-year-old Irishman.

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Taylor was replaced as New Zealand captain after refusing to give up the roles in the shorter forms of the game. Reports suggested a rift between the player and head coach Mike Hesson, who is believed to have suggested the captaincy restructure.

Taylor admits there remains a strong outside interest in the situation but says his return has not caused any problems within the New Zealand camp.

"I can't speak for anyone else, I can only say what I see myself and I haven't seen anything untoward towards me," he said. "I've just been acting like my normal self, so I don't think there's anything there.

"There's probably still people outside the team who want to stir it up a little bit. We can't control that. There's a few cameras here and I'm sure they're here for a reason."

England suffered a three-wicket warm-up defeat against a New Zealand XI in Whangarei on Wednesday but Morgan remains confident ahead of Saturday.

"All our preparation matters and having a great test yesterday was brilliant for us," he said. "Often you go into warm-up games and dominate. We are looking forward to Saturday now."